Baird's big sense of pride at Willo

-
By Wendy Gee -

EASTLEIGH boss Ian Baird will feel a huge sense of pride when Brett Williams returns to the Silverlake Stadium as a Reading player tomorrow.

http://graemehorobin.smugmug.com/2010-2011/Eastleigh-v-Bishops-Stortford/IMG1394/969605587_eJkBA-S.jpg
Brett Williams is set to return to the Silverlake Stadium as a Reading player

The 23-year-old striker was sold to the Royals for £50,000 during the January transfer window and is ready to stake his claim for a Championship place after recovering from a minor knee operation.

This time last year Baird predicted that Williams, a former part-time taxi driver, would either make a big success of his football career or end up back in pub football with the Dog & Duck.

The Hedge End lad heeded that warning and six months later landed a dream move to the Madejski Stadium - little more than three years after turning out for his local Sunday League side Fountain Inn.

Baird, whose Eastleigh team host a Reading XI in a pre-season friendly tomorrow (3pm), admitted: "As a football manager it does make you proud to see a lad progress after you've put a lot of time, effort and faith in him.

"There were a few close calls with Brett where I felt he was wasting time, but the penny dropped and finally he started to realise the attributes he'd got and gave himself the chance to become a professional footballer.

"Reading are one of the very best clubsaround to develop young players. They've got a really good infrastructure and there are not too many cracks in the paintwork.

"In Brian McDermott, Brett's got a manager with a hell of a lot of faith in him.

"He's had a settling-in period at Reading now and knows what it's all about. I'm sure he and they will be expecting him to have a really good pre-season.

"Kids coming out of non-League have got to look at the likes of (Blackpool's) DJ Campbell and (Manchester United's) Chris Smalling.

"They've had a second chance and grabbed it with both hands."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Deal sealed with Lawshield

-
Image
Eastleigh Football Club are delighted to unveil Lawshield as sponsors for the South Stand (opposite the clubhouse end) at the Silverlake Stadium for the 2012-2013 season. Lawshield have signed a deal with the club which sees the stand rebranded the Lawshield Stand and we hope the fans will embrace the newly named ‘Lawshield End'. Lawshield Managing Director Ken Specter commented:"It gives us great pleasure to continue our association with Eastleigh Football Club - we wish the whole team, both on the pitch and behind the scenes at the club all the best for the forthcoming season". Lawshield specialise in providing quality insurance products which are underwritten by leading insurers. Their products and services offer comprehensive cover and a seamless integrated service solution to Insurers, Brokers, Fleet Managers and Affinities. They provide a one stop shop offering outsourced claims assistance solutions for household insurance and personal/commercial motor insura...
Read more

Richard Hill

-
Image
Eastleigh Football Club are delighted to announce Richard Hill as their new first team manager, with immediate effect. Richard will be introduced to the players and staff tomorrow evening and will take charge of his first match on Saturday against Maidenhead. Richard is vastly experienced having managed Stevenage Borough and assisted John Gregory at both Wycombe and QPR, Brian Little at Aston Villa and also fulfilled the same roles at Gillingham, Tranmere Rovers and Northampton Town. It is a new era for the football club and we feel that in appointing Richard we have made the right choice. We are confident that he has all the attributes necessary to ensure the football club continues to develop and move forward in the correct manner. Stewart Donald added ‘I am delighted that we have been able to appoint Richard so quickly. He is exactly the calibre of Manager I wanted. Like all managers that inherit a team, there will be a transitional period while he familiarises himself with...
Read more

Eastleigh 3-1 Newport County

-
Image
EASTLEIGH V NEWPORT COUNTY MONDAY 12th MARCH 2007 Conference South So far so good, as Eastleigh pressed on with their busy schedule with a second comprehensive win in as many days. Yet another classy performance from the Spitfires saw them come out firing on all cylinders finding themselves two goals to the good in the blink of an eye, and just like they did in the Farnborough match at the weekend, they comfortably saw the game out. The only change from the winning side, saw Liam Green replace the injured David Hughes in the centre of midfield. Newport were panicking from the start with the excellent Steve Watts and Jamie Brown letting their presence be felt up the front, giving their opponents no time on the ball. The constant chasing down and pressure from the two Eastleigh forwards almost led to catastrophe in the third minute for Newport, as Stewart Edwards played across his own goal with his keeper missing the ball before it was eventually hacked away. Scorer of Eastl...
Read more